What is Worship? || Victory Church [Book of John #30]

the first worship service here, we were actually down down the hill in our building down there. And maybe if you're anything like me stepping into an environment like this for a worship time like that, it's a little bit of a culture shop, right? If you don't know, I grew up Presbyterian. Come on, all my pres-- Okay. No. No, like listen, it's a different culture, man, it's like a different type of worship service, like we literally clapped one time a year, I'm not kidding, one time a year. It was when the traveling children's choir came through town and I remember whenever I saw them there as a teenager, I got excited because I'm like, oh my gosh, we can clap today, like we can make a noise in church, like I got excited about it. It was the type of setting like, if anybody, and they didn't, but if anybody raised their hand, it was one of those where it was like the person next to them, which is like, you know what I mean? It's just a different environment, right? Oregon, the hymnal, sing verse one and three so you can beat the baptist alone, it's like that sort of thing. And then I walk in here as a college student and I remember there's like a Jamaican worship pastor, which is its own thing, you know, and like a Latino dude on percussion and I'm like you can do that in church, you don't just have to do the Oregon with the choir robes and stuff. And then I remember being around some of you expressive people, like the Kenyans come up, the Nigerians, the Mexicans, like y'all are very expressive sort of people and I'm just like huddled over with like the white reform Protestants over in the corner who kind of like lock in arms with the really reserved Koreans, you know, like that thing. And I would just kind of hide behind this phrase. Like I just kind of found myself saying like, well I guess I'm just not really a worshipper. Well today we're talking about something that every person in this room and online does. It actually doesn't even matter if you're a Christian or not.

It doesn't matter if you grew up in church like me or in a different sort of environment than me or this is your first time ever in church and the truth is most people do this thing every single day and you don't even realize that you're doing it. Here's the reality for today, is that every single person is a worshipper. And I know some of you just said not pastor that ain't it, that ain't me. Like that's what my wife does, right? I'm not a singer, I don't raise my hands, I don't get emotional like that. Here's the deal. Everybody worships. All right. You may not worship God. You may not sing worship songs, you may not lift your hands, but everybody worships something. In fact, Tim Keller, who's the pastor, he's gone to be with the Lord, here's how he says it. Everyone worships something. The only choice you get is what to worship. And here's the big idea today is that you don't choose whether or not you worship, you only get to choose what you worship. And you know, when we kind of pause and think on that, we're like, oh yeah, I guess that really is true. And we kind of see different worship around the world, right? Like some people worship their career. Come on. Right? How do I know? Because you sacrifice everything to advance. Some of you still aren't married because you're like, I'll do it when I'm finally, when I got the C-suite, when I'm in the corner office, you know, we're sacrificing everything. Or maybe you've been divorced 12 times and you always blame them, but it's because you're always just trying to climb the corp, is that too early in the sermon?

Okay. Yeah. All right. Some people worship sex. Come on. I know that's a real heavy topic in today's world, but our entire lives revolve around our gender identity, what pronouns am I going to put in my bio today? Who am I hooking up with? How am I going to please my flesh? This week we worship sex and sexuality. Some people worship their family, right? You ever been like best friends with somebody? Then they get married and you never see them again? Come on. Are they have kids? And then they disappear from your small group, they diss it yuck because the whole life becomes about us four and no more and I just got to take care of a little billy, make sure you're just rapping them bubble wrap and I didn't, you know? Some people worship sports. Come on. Football season is finally upon us. Thank you. Jesus. Ladies. Some of you, sorry. You just lost your husband until mid-February, which by the way, by the way, nobody's talking about this yet, so you heard it here first? I'm sorry, I did not make the calendar. This year, the Super Bowl is on Valentine's Day. So if you want to just go ahead and pre-sign up for the marriage counseling, we're going

to be doing, right? (audience laughing) I'm sorry, I don't have an answer. I really don't. Actually I do, I do. You should take your wife on the day. All right, your girlfriend on the day, okay? To the sports bar to watch. (audience laughing) You know, come on, we watch the sports. Like some guys know every stat, they talk about Tony Dorsett and X amount of yards. Like they know all the stuff on five fancy football teams, you know, some guys are not here right now 'cause the Falcons play at one. You know what I'm saying? Like your life, you shift your life. And just to be honest, I am not completely immune to this. My emotions ride way too much on how 20 year old men play college football at the University of Georgia. I'm the first to confess that. I was there yesterday. I was at that game and I had Mo on speed though, in case I couldn't make it back. You know what I'm saying? I might not even have a voice by the time I come back to the Saturday night service, you know? And here's what happens, you know? I mean, the thing is, it's been said a million times,

but there's a reason for it. There's a problem, especially when men will lose their ever freaking minds in a football game, baseball game, volleyball game, whatever that thing is. And then come in here and be like, I'm just not a worshipper, right? You ever seen this? It's actually making this rounds now where a wife like subbed out the audio on her husband watching a football game with worship music? It looks the same. (audience laughs) Right? So whether it's football or politics or money or a famous success, here's the truth. Everybody's worshiping something. Everybody's worshiping something. And nobody thinks they're worshiping anything. All right, but Louis Giglio, he's a pastor here in the city. I love how he says it. He says, how do you know where and what your show? It's easy. You simply follow the trail of your time, your affection, your energy, your money and your loyalty. And at the end of that trail, you'll find a throne.

And whatever or whomever is on that throne is what's of highest value to you. On that throne is what you worship. Here's the deal. I know I'm preaching to the choir today. So most of us here today would say our worship Jesus. Probably. But show me your bank account. Show me your calendar. Show me your screen time. Show me what you orient your life around. And I'll actually show you what you really, really do worship. 'Cause we say one thing, but many times our life shows something else. And again, here's the deal. We don't have a problem worshiping. Our problem is we worship the wrong things. And what it's doing, it's leading to death. It's leading to depression. It's leading to divorce. It's leading to chaos, right? Which begs the question, what is worthy of our worship? Augustine said this 1,600 years ago, he said, God, our hearts are restless until they find rest in you alone. So if you need the reminder today or maybe you need to hear it for the very first time, the only one worthy of our worship is Jesus Christ the Messiah.

He's the only one. Their hearts will actually find rest and it won't destroy our entire lives if we worship them. And so in our year-long journey through the book of John, okay? If you've been tracking with us up 'til now, John is an author, he's an intentional author and he's kind of been jumping around. In the timeline, kind of months between stories hopping from festival to festival to festival. But here in John 12, where we are today, the whole story starts to slow down from here until the end of the book. And here's how I know, it's because he timestamps it. He actually says where we are in the story here in John 12. And here's the idea, guys, is John 1-11 takes about three years. John 12-21 takes about two weeks. So this whole story is about to slow down here starting today over the next few weeks through the end of this. In John 12, here's what John does. He puts us in a room where four people are worshiping in different ways to different things. All right, we're gonna pick up here in the story in verse one. One of my favorite stories in the whole Bible. Six days before the Passover, there's the timestamp. What happens at the Passover? Jesus dies on the cross. So six days, we're only six days out.

Jesus comes to Bethany where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had just raised from the dead. When did that happen, John 11? Last week we were there. And here at dinner was given in Jesus' honor. All right, what's Martha doing? Martha's the sister of Lazarus. Well, she's serving. What's Lazarus doing? Well, he's among those reclining at the table with Jesus. Then Mary, Mary is the other sister of Lazarus. What's Mary doing? Mary took a pint of Purinard, an expensive perfume. She poured it on Jesus' feet and then wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But one of his disciples, "Dum, dum, dum!" Like you're, this is flavored with hindsight. Whenever you see the gospel writers write about Judas, you can feel like the betrayal in their words. Then Judas, who was later to betray Jesus, objected. Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages. Now here's the insight. He didn't say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. And as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put in it. And Jesus replied, "Leave her alone." It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me. Whoo! Alright, go there with me. Just kind of put yourself in the room. This is a resurrection dinner party. Come on. And ain't no party. Like a resurrection party because they're ready. Okay, you know what I'm talking about? Like it don't stop. But why? Because it's resurrected. You know what I'm saying? Like it just keeps going. Why is the party being held? Because Lazarus was dead. Now he's alive. Right? And so they hold a dinner party and Jesus is his owner. Like I love that. Like it's so real. Like Jesus raised Lazarus, the brother of Mary

and Martha, and they throw this big party to honor Jesus. So Jesus is in the middle. Everybody's revolving around him. That's really where worship begins. Just everything's revolving around the one who's in the center of Jesus Christ. Why are they having this big party? Because the thing that they were weeping about last week, now they're worshiping God for. Because where there was no way God made away. So they're responding to what Jesus has done. And this kind of begins unlocking. If I can say it like this, what a life of worship looks like. Maybe you've wondered, what is worship? Is it more than a song? What is worship? Here's the first thought. Worship is response. Okay. Here's one of our problems as people. As human beings, we are forgetful. Why are we forgetful? Here's what happens. We pray and then we just keep moving. Why? Because you've got to change the baby's diapers. You've got to answer the email. You've got to go to work, whatever. Life doesn't stop. And so what happens is many times we pray and keep moving. And we don't even realize that we're living in the answers to the prayers we prayed in the last season. Colossians 4-2, here's how Paul says it. I love this. This is one of my life verses. He says, devote yourselves to prayer being watchful and thankful. Two things. Watchful. After you pray, what should I do? I should then be watchful and I should be thankful. Come on, guys. Here's the idea. Can we just for a second? Can we let some gratitude rise up in the room? Can we pray and then watch to see how God came through for us? Come on, where would you be without Jesus? Come on, guys. Come on, how God saved your lives. How God redeemed your lives. How God made away where there was no way. How God saved your family. How God healed your body. He provided for you. Come on. He's Jehovah Raha. He's Jehovah Jairah. He's the Lord's shepherd. He's the Lord's your peace. Come on, guys. He's the God when there is no way. He says light and then there's light. He makes streams in the wilderness. Come on, guys. He makes a way where there is no way. And we need to be a little bit more watchful and thankful for how God is the God who keeps his promises. He's still answering his word today. Some of you used to say, God, please. You need to turn that and realize that, man, I actually need to be saying, God, thank you because you did it. You did it. Prayerful. Watchful. Thankful. That's the vibe of this party. Okay. Lazarus was dead. Jesus raised him back to life. So this whole part is a response to what Jesus has done in their life. How are they responding? You just saw it. Martha. What's Martha's response? Martha responds by serving. Okay. That's what she does. That's what she knows how to do best. Martha gets a bad rap. You should be more like Mary. She chose the only necessary thing. No, Jesus never criticizes Martha.

She has gifts and she uses them for the glory of the Lord. Can I say it like this? Her worship has an apron on. That's how she worships God is by serving people, serving Jesus, and serving his people. What shows us, maybe you didn't know this, is that serving people in the name of Jesus is worship. It is worship. Listen, you serving your family without a thank you, that's worship. You're not doing it for them. You're doing it for the king. Come on, you serving people at the office. You serving people here in the church? That's worship, man. Like I know some of you are like, I'm just a small group leader. I just greeted the door. I just kind of ministered to the kids. No, no, no, no. That's worship. It's beautiful. It's worship. That's how Mary worships. Well, what does Lazarus do? And it just said it right there. What's his response to what Jesus has done in his life? It seems completely unspiritual on the surface. It says, Alastairus is required. I love this, okay? So if Martha's worship has an apron on, Lazarus's worship has a watch on. Why? He's just sitting at the table, spending time with Jesus, okay? Did you know that just pausing your life to spend time with Jesus is worship? He didn't take the blessing and leave. No, he stayed close. Did you know that pausing your life to pray, to read the scriptures, taking next steps like baptism, that sort of stuff? That's worship, man. And so listen, if you're new to faith, your first task is simply this. Just stay at the table. Just stay close to Jesus. And I promise you, they'll take care of you

from here on out, okay? Proximity to Jesus is worship. All right, well, that's Martha, that's Lazarus. What's Mary doing? She's on her hands and these pouring perfume on Jesus's feet. And then the cultural layer right there that many of us don't read is that a woman, her hair was only to be seen by her husband. But Mary undignifies herself in this room and pours the perfume out and then lets her hair down and then dries his feet with her hair. All right, if Martha's worship had an apron on, if Lazarus's worship had a watch on, then Mary's worship has dollar signs attached to it. Why this extravagant gift? Because she's responding to the fact that Jesus raised her brother back from the dead. Listen, you can't go through something like that and not respond, okay? Which shows that generosity towards Jesus, towards the things that he loves is worship, all right? So Martha serving, Lazarus is spending time. Mary's giving, but they're all worshiping in response to what Jesus has done for him. But catch this, catch this, pause real quick. Worship isn't only a response to what Jesus has done. In fact, I'd say it like this. Worship is a response to who Jesus is and what he has done in my life.

I'm here to remind you guys that Jesus is worthy of your worship before he does one thing for you, okay? This is why you can still worship in the valley because Jesus has intrinsic worth. He has intrinsic beauty. I don't care if your life, the wheels are falling off of your life. You can still lift your eyes up to heaven and see the beauty of Jesus. And he's still worthy of your worship on your worst day because of who he is and what he's done. And at the very heart of worship is this idea of worth. Everybody say worth. I don't know if you ever connected this before, but where do we get the word worship? We get the word worship from worship. What we're saying is the one who's receiving my worship is worthy of what I'm doing for them. They're worthy of my time. They're worthy of my service. They're worthy of my money. They're worthy of whatever I'm giving them, which means be careful what you worship. 'Cause that thing may not be worthy of those things in your life, but worship is directly can I, too, worth, worth. We're actually saying when we worship Jesus, we're saying Jesus, you are worthy of what I'm giving you right now.

And one of my favorite scriptures to read in our Saturday morning prayer times over here in the chapel, 8 a.m., every Saturday morning, we're there for an hour interceding for you guys, for the city. I will flip over to Revelation 5 sometimes. I know many of us were intimidated by Revelation, but we catch this snapshot of this hinge moment in history. It's a future moment, this hinge moment of history where the Father's holding the scroll, the in-time scroll of God in His hands. It says it's written on both sides, which means there's a lot of content and it's sealed with seven seals. And then they go on a hunt in heaven and on earth and under the earth for the one who's worthy to open up the scroll and to unlock and to execute the in-time plan of God. But there's one problem, no one's worthy. They look at the angels, they look at the demons, they look at the dictators and the presidents of the past of human history forever. And nobody's worthy until Jesus steps forward in verse seven. It says, "He, Jesus, went and took the scroll "from the right hand of Him who sat on the throne "and when He had taken it, the four living creatures "and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb. "Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls "full of incense, which are the prayers of God's people." And they sang a new song.

I want you to understand this. Worship isn't only singing, but singing is worship when it's directed at the king and they sang a new song saying, "You, Jesus, are worthy to take the scroll "and to open its seals because you were slain "and with your blood you purchased for God, "persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. "This is you and your family. "You have made them to be a kingdom "and priests to serve our God." numbering thousands upon thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand they encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders and in a loud voice they were saying worthy is the lamb worthy is the lamb who is slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise and then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all that is in them saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be praised in honor and glory and power forever and ever the four living creatures said amen and the elders fell down and worshipped that's the scene of heaven that all of heaven is crying out worthy is the lamb worthy is the lamb worthy is the lamb which is why it's a mockery when we say worthy is my sexuality how much does that pale in comparison to the ones of the angels are bowing down to the cherubum the seraphon the four living creatures screaming out worthy is the lamb and heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all that is within them saying praise the lamb wealth and wisdom and honor and glory and power worthy is Jesus which is why it's so hilarious to me sometimes people will leave a church setting and be like I just didn't like worship today great we weren't worshiping you anyway didn't have anything to do with you he's worthy whether or not you lift up your voice come on guys no one's coming to see you Otis you know what I'm saying like this ain't about you this ain't about you worship is not about you we're not responding to your worth you're responding it is worth that's what worship is all about some of us worship the style of the music more than the one who is pointing to we're not worshipping the beat come on we're not worshipping does it to get moving no no we're

worshipping who it's pointed out okay and here's here's here's what that means there can be bad music that's still good worship you ever listen to stuff from like the 1600 you're like it's great worship great terrible terrible rhythm not terrible I feel nothing doesn't doesn't change the fact it's describing to God it's great it's great it's why because what is worship worship is a response to the worth of Jesus Christ that's what it is to who he is and what he's done that's a response that's the heart of worship okay so what is worship worship is a response second thing worship is sacrificed okay his worth is so great that it requires something great from us and when Jesus is great worth it meets a great sacrifice from his people something great happens okay we just read it in verse three let's look at it again Mary therefore everybody say therefore what does that mean Mary responded because Jesus did something Mary therefore took a pound of expensive point meant made from pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair cultural context nard was a very rare extremely rare spice imported from northern India so if we need the reminder there was no amazon can't get this up man can't get this stuff um and it smelled like flowers it was a perfume an ointment a spice made into an ointment that smelled like flowers had like a reddish hue to it um extremely rare to so to have a pound of it was like unheard of um in fact what it says it was worth three hundred denari okay so a denari is a day's wage you go and work a job at the end of that day you get one denari okay so this pound of ointment is worth three hundred denari which is a year's paycheck okay and Mary takes this and pours it on Jesus's head his clothes and finishes with his feet question can you imagine taking your entire year's salary and just pouring it on Jesus that's what Mary does it's a radical sacrifice for the radically worthy one and we don't know some people say this was her entire inheritance okay in that culture um if a woman didn't get married she didn't have a provider in that culture okay and so last times if they were able they would give a woman um finances in case she never got married Mary takes her back up plate and pours it out on Jesus what she's saying is i'm not relying on anybody else i'm giving this all to you i'm leaving it all in the field i'm going all in on Jesus i'm pushing all my chips across the vable i have no plan b god like i'm yours you're mine i'm going all in and Jesus responds to that in verse nine i love this he says truly i tell you be told in memory of her. What Mary didn't know, she just thought she was making sacrifice in that moment. What she didn't know is that she was preparing Jesus' body for burial.

And we don't know, but if you read between the lines, I think at the cross Jesus smelled flowers, because of this moment right here. And what it shows us, whatever shows us, is that Jesus sees your sacrifice as done for him. So much so, he says, listen, what she just did, I know all the haters are pointing at it, no, no, no, what she just did. In fact, whenever my name is mentioned around the world, she's going to be forever connected to my story. Remember showing us that anything sacrificed for Jesus is never forgotten. It's always seen. Listen, some of you need to hear this more than others, because you're sacrificing for your family, and you're like, he doesn't deserve that. I know. It's done. You're doing it for Jesus. You're loving your neighbors. You're working here. You're doing whatever. Whatever. And you feel like nobody sees it. I promise you, there's one who sees it, and he writes it down in his book of remembrance. And no sacrifice goes unnoticed before the throne of God. So what does sacrificial worship actually look like? Let me just give you a few. We'll start with where Mary was. Okay. Giving. All right. Now, I'm going to pause on this, because everybody clinches up whenever we talk about giving in church.

We already did the offering. We're not doing another one. We're not like passing the bucket again or something to do. Okay. Now, what did Mary do? She gave us sacrificial offering. Now, here's the thought, guys. I tithe out of obedience, but I give offering out of love. All right. And here's one of our problems as Christians. Way too many Christians are asking, what's the minimum? That's not a sacrificial response. Come on. That's trying to be like, how much can I get out of this and still have my stuff? Now, listen, if it's a response to who he is and what he's done, then the question is not what's the least I can give? The question is actually, how much am I able to give? How can I reorient my budget, my life to actually free up more to give to advance the kingdom of God in my world and missions, wherever that is, right? How much am I able to give away? King David in 2 Samuel, he said, "I will never give an offering that doesn't cost me something." Right? There's a sacrificial offering that I'm telling you, will change your life when you actually start to step into the space, because the pride off of your life, which answers the question, how is giving sacrifice? It's sacrifice because I'm dying to my own agenda. I've told you guys this before, I want to pull. I do. I really actually do.

I'm not just preaching that. Like I want to pull. And it feels like every time we're like, we can put the down payment, because like, no, you got to give that to something else. I'm like, it's sacrifice. It's sacrifice, guys. I'm dying to mine. Because here's what it is. It's actually saying, God, I want to give so that your kingdom would come, because I can use this money to bring my kingdom to come, but I actually want your kingdom to come. That's sacrificial giving. It's worship. It's worship. It's worship. Next one, this is what Martha was doing, serving. Right? Sacrificing my time. Sacrificing my pride. Listen, this is why some people don't serve, because you're like, "No, I've worked hard for this title. I've worked hard for this paycheck. I've worked hard for people to look up to me. You think I'm really going to kneel down and serve other people?" No, no, no. Sacrifice. What about what Lazarus was doing, proximity? It's sacrificing my time, sacrificing my pride again, because what is prayer? Prayer is saying, "God, I can't, but you can." I can't put my marriage back together, but God, you can.

God, I can't change the U.S. I can't do anything about that, but you can. God, I can't bring my kids back to faith, but you can. And so I'm going to humble myself before the Lord and say, "God, you have the answers I don't." What about something we do very often, singing? Right? But again, we have to say this, worship isn't only singing, but singing is worship when it's directed to Jesus. The only thing really, the warning is, don't draw near to Jesus with your lips, but your hearts are far from him. You know what I'm saying? I want to bring my lips and my heart very close to each other. Even if I'm not fully living out that lyric, my worship is God I want to. I believe that's true up there. I want my life to align with that right there. So how is singing sacrificed? Singing is sacrificed, because sometimes you just have to offer a sacrifice of price. And I'll be brutally honest, sometimes life sucks, but you're like, "I'm going to worship Jesus anyways." Sometimes life hurts, but God is still good. Listen, my life doesn't feel great, but he's great. My life doesn't feel good, but he's good. So I'm 103. Sometimes you just have to say, "Praise the Lord, oh my soul and all that is within me. You're going to praise this holy name. I know my flesh is hurting. I know my life is broken, but he's still worthy of my worship. One of the Greek words in the New Testament for worship is proskuneo, proskuneo, proskuneo means to bow down or to go all the way prostrate, like I'll go all the way prostrate.

What's the context for that? What it is, it's taking an appropriate posture in the presence of a king. When a king walk in the room in that setting, you go look because you're in the presence of royalty. Maybe you've ever walked into a worship setting, you're like, why are people on their knees? Because the king's in the room. Why would somebody actually just lay down? It's not because they're sleepy. It's because I go low because he's so high. And listen, maybe sometimes in worship, you just need to be honest. God, I've been a little prideful this week. I thought I was a little bit too big for my bridges. I wore my title this week, I'm the man of the house. Come on, I'm this, I'm that, I've got this in my business. When I hold that up against the one that the angels are encircling right now, screaming out, oh, the oak, I'm going to go low. I need to humble myself in the presence of the king. Some of you need to begin proskuneo, a little bit more, humbling yourself. Come on, especially the man, come on, guys. We think that worship is so weak. You think it's effeminate? Abra, when your captain walks in the room, you salute your captain. You bow to the Lord of Heaven's armies. This isn't a weak God that we're talking about. This is the one with fire in his eyes and a sword coming out of his mouth, who's coming back for a pure bride and to strike down the nations in the rebellion. You bow before that king. You bow before that king. So what is sacrificial worship? One more.

This is kind of the catch-all. It's my life. It's my life. Maybe the greatest gift today is this. But some of us would wake up to the fact that worship doesn't only happen on Sunday mornings. In fact, I promise you this, your greatest worship this week will not be in this room because your worship is how you live your life. Here's how Paul says it in Romans 12-1 very famously. He says, "Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, and view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship." What Paul is saying is how you live your life is worship, your life is worship. It's not just singing a song, yeah it is, but your work, how you work your job is worship. I know you don't connect that, but it's worship. Here's what I mean. Do you show up on time? Do you steal? No, I would never steal. Do you leave five minutes early? Because you're stealing a paycheck for time you didn't work. Listen, you're not working for your boss. You're working for the Lord. That's your worship. You're not doing it for them. You're doing it for Jesus. Come on. How you love your wife, how you love your husband, that's your worship. How you parent your kids, that's your worship, man. How you love your neighbor's worship, telling your friends about Jesus, that's worship. When you forgive somebody who wrongs you in the name of Jesus, that's worship.

Leading a holy life is worship. Come on, putting a filter on your phone to block porn, that's worship. Come on, putting the pill bottle away, throwing it away, that's worship. Come on. You're taking a different root home so you don't pass the thing that keeps making you struggle and buying scratch-offs or going to the strip. That's worship. That's worship. Come on, guys, pushing away from that second or third plate of food. I know we don't talk about that with a judge. That's the socially acceptable sin, okay? You know what I'm saying? No, I want to honor God with my body. I want to honor God with my thought life. I want to honor God with how I conduct myself towards the opposite sex. All that is worship and it's a beautiful, it's a beautiful sacrifice to God. And if you have not discovered this yet, anything you sacrifice to God is not ever a sacrifice. It's really not at the end of the day because what do I have that I have not first received? I'm going to give him some money, okay? Who gave me the ability to make money to begin with? I'm going to give him, I'm going to sacrifice my time. He's like, "Who woke you up this morning?" It's not a sacrifice. Listen, I experience this every Saturday morning. I come in for prayer, 8 a.m., bless the Lord, I wake up at like six, whatever, the alarm clock goes off and I'm like, "Jey, that's how I do it. Take this cup from me, Lord, I don't like it too." I'm not a morning person and I'm like, "I'm going to sacrifice and just come in and pray and intercede for the families of the church and the city and the state.

I'll do it for you." And I come in here and every single time, 100 percent of the time, by the time I leave, I'm like, "D But in a holy endeavor, I'm just telling you, they're still going to be haters. And that's who we meet in this story. Let's just talk about it in just real quick, verse 4, "But one of Jesus' disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray Jesus, objected. Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth it years away, just pause real quick. Have you ever noticed that the godless people, the greediest people, are always the ones telling you what to do with your money? You give how much to the church? You serve? You're living a celibate life? You're wasting it. That's wasted. You're wasting, because worship always looks wasteful to greedy people and godless people. And your response just needs to be, "Hey, you don't know what I've been through." You think I'm being too emotional? You weren't there when I was on my deathbed. You weren't there when my kids were going to hell. You weren't there when the divorce papers were on the table. You didn't see how God came through in my life. You haven't witnessed how God put my life back together again and all the pieces that were just shattered. Somehow He had them numbered and He put in my life. Do you think I'm being too emotional to worship, because you haven't gone through what I've gone through. And I respond. It's a response, a sacrificial response.

Here's what I'm trying to tell you guys. Never let the god haters tell you how to be a god lover. Because Mary thought Jesus is worth everything I have, and more Judas thought that's too much to give Jesus. Revealing. The problem was not that Judas didn't understand the value of the perfume. Jesus did not understand the value of Jesus. Because worship will always look wasteful when you don't understand the value of Jesus. When Jesus is this small to you, anything extravagant will look like you're wasting your life. And let me just tell you. If somebody's lately accused you of wasting your life on Jesus, say thank you so much. Because if you're going to say it like that, He wasted his life on me. And so my life is just a response to who he is and what he's done. Mary looks at her perfume and looks at Jesus and says, "He's worth more than that." It's an easy sacrifice. Which begs the question. What are we unwilling to surrender because we value it more than we value Jesus? Whatever that is today, if it's a person who's the thing, what job, whatever it is, maybe God's inviting us to sacrificially lay that thing down at his feet, pour it on his feet. So what is worship? Worship is response. Worship is sacrifice and worship is attractive. It's the last thought. When Mary pours out her perfume, it's just this little subtext. It says the house was filled with fragrance. What she poured on Jesus' feet affected everybody else in the room. Here's what I'm trying to say. Your worship may begin as something only between you and Jesus. But eventually, the fragrance of that sacrificial response will affect everyone around you.

I promise you, the more you worship Jesus, the better your home's going to get. The more you worship Jesus, the more the fragrance is going to spread out into your neighborhood, your workplace, whatever it is. It's going to get better around you. Maybe the circumstances may not, but the kingdom's going to come. And John immediately shows us what this looks like at this dinner. Like the next verse after what we just read in verse 9, it says, "Meanwhile, a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead, so the chief priest made the most ridiculous plan that's ever been concocted in human history. They're going to kill Lazarus. For on account of Lazarus, many of the Jews are going over to Jesus and believing in him. Is that not the dumbest plan? Like Jesus raised this guy from the dead, "I know what we should do, kill him." He says, "We just did this yesterday, guys, like I'm going to be okay if I live or die, I belong to the Lord. You can't threaten me any longer." But what's so beautiful, I think that on account of Lazarus, many of the Jews were going over to Jesus. I want you to notice this. Lazarus never preached a sermon. Come on, guys. His life was the sermon. What he was simply doing was living a resurrected life, and everybody was like, "I need to go see that guy." Listen, the people in your life should be more drawn to Jesus because of you just witnessing the resurrection every single day, which here's what I'm trying to say. Whatever you worship is what you advertise. Whatever you are, you are a walking billboard. And here's the deal.

If you want to know, what do I really worship? What are you drawing people to? Come on, guys. Here's the question, what am I advertising? That's the question, okay? If I looked at your social media, if I listened in on your conversations, if I saw what you do with your money, if I saw how you live your life, what are you advertising? Now here's the deal. Some of us are advertising, Jesus. Listen, some of us are advertising Comic Con. Some of us are drawing people to Donald Trump. Some of us are drawing people to the Democratic National Convention. Some people are drawing, we're drawing other people to race arguments. Like what are we drawing people to? What are we worship? What are we advertising? What is our life actually smell like when people around us? Or am I leading people to the only one who's worthy? Jesus Christ. And the way we worship draws people to the one that we worship, all right? So by giving, I'm making an opportunity for more people to come to know Jesus. By serving, I'm setting the table

for people to come and meet Jesus. By living my life, that aroma is filling my neighborhood. By leading my family, my kids are being drawn to the King because of me. Come on guys, as they grow old, they won't depart from it when you train them up in the way of the Lord. When we live our lives out there, people are drawn to King Jesus through us. When we sing, something happens. Some of my favorite stories in this church are people who walk in and they're like, man, I was kinda on the fence and here's what they're really saying. They're like, I didn't really understand this thing about Jesus. I wasn't really sure if he was the real deal until the congregation started singing. And then I saw he was real by looking at their faces. I saw that the tomb was empty because they looked alive and I've never felt alive, but they were alive. I wanna get to know the one that they're worshiping. And here's the deal, guys. When we look at the church at large across America, people are leaving churches. Why? Because of weak worship. ♪ Lord, I lift your name on fire ♪

♪ Lord, I'd love to speak your prayers ♪ - I'm not attracted to that. That's a king. I thought it was like a drive-through worker you were worshiping, like. That's how much energy, that's how much emotion, that's how much truth is behind that thing. No, bro, like I wanna worship a king who's worthy. Someone, something who's worthy. That's what people are looking for. Who's the one who's worthy of my worship? My prayer for us is that we would be a house of worship, that you would be people of worship, you would be families of worship, who live out alive of worship. And through that, you would advertise the only one who's actually worthy of our worship, King Jesus. So some of you've been begging this, and I'll clue it all in with this. What is worship? Define it for me, pastor, here it is. Worship is our sacrificial response to who God is and what he has done that ultimately attracts other people to him. Ultimate, it's our sacrificial response to who Jesus is, and what he's done that ultimately draws others to King Jesus himself. So here's the invitation right now. Let's bow our heads, and let's respond to who Jesus is and what he's done.

Father, I thank you that you are not a harsh dictator. I thank you that you are a loving father, while also being the one who said, let them be lying. Because of Christ alone, we can boldly approach the throne of grace with confidence this morning. Sitting with our father, being loved, cared, all because the great sacrifice, the death of Pharaoh and the resurrection of Jesus. And in this dinner, there in John 12, there's four people, Martha, Mary, Lazarus, and Jesus. When is there serving for Jesus? When is there spending time with Jesus? When is giving on behalf of Jesus? When is criticizing? And I found out that in every corporate gathering, those four people are always here. So listen, if you came in today and you've just been criticized, or maybe you've been living the life of judging, saying like, yeah, do the Jesus thing, but not too much. And maybe that light bulb is coming on over your head that he's the only one worthy of any of those. You say today, I actually want to give my life, like buy into the kingdom. Like I'm all in Jesus, I'm pouring it all in you. I want to pray with you. Others of us, maybe you've been in some false worship, maybe you have some idolatry, maybe you've missed prioritizing relationship, maybe you're in an affair,

maybe you've got some sin and equity sort of stuff going on. And you say, like, I need to like get that off the throne of my life and put Jesus right back where he needs to be in the right place. Wherever you're at today, if that's you, I want to pray with you for coming to faith for the first time or saying, I need to reprioritize my worship. I want to pray with you. And the family of God around you is going to pray. Let's pray like this. Say Jesus, you are good and you are great and you are alive. And I'm alive forever because you're resurrected. You have my life from this day forward, forgiven, free, and a child of God forevermore. Jesus. Right now, Father, I thank You that the tomb is empty over those who have just came to faith. Real resurrected life is entering in to previously dead lives, dead souls. God, I thank You right now that You're right now in the name of Jesus. We're tearing down every idol, every stronghold, every addiction that's been clawing in even to the family of God. The spirit of depression and death be gone in Jesus' name. That spirit of addiction be gone in Jesus' name. The spirit of idolatry be gone in Jesus' name. We will be people who worship Jesus. It's a sacrificial response to who He is and what He's done. In Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. This is the sermon, who you've been looking for one that we respond to. We respond, sacrificial response. We're going to linger here like three minutes. If you're able, once you stand up to your feet, and the band is going to lead us in the song that we sang earlier, "Oh You Praise." And here's what I'm going to tell you guys. Some of you have been way too reserved in worship thinking that people care about your pride. I want to speak specifically to the men. I've tempted to say nobody's looking at you. Here's who is looking at you. Your wife's looking at you. And your kids are looking at you. I mean, it's my prayer for the men of this church that it would not be said of dad. It just wasn't a worshiver. But you should have seen them at football games. Can we actually give worship to the only one who is worship? Can we lift up our voices? Can we lift up our hands? Can we prosper? Some of you need to humble yourself before the Lord. And let's give a sacrificial response to the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords. Jesus Christ. Amen.